Main engine of India's 'Mangalyaan' to be 'woken up' after 9-month slumber
Which means that the Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO will test it in a short four-second burn and then embark on the future course of action.
K Radhakrishnan, the ISRO chairman said,"We have done a lot of ground simulations and hope that the four-second test will slow the satellite down and correct its trajectory as well in a two-in-one operation".
Despite having confidence on the main rocket of the space-craft, this is an important move by the ISRO to ensure that there are no last-moment hitches in one of the most important indigenous missions to Mars.
Mission controller B N Ramakrishna said,"All commands have been uploaded and the satellite will perform the tasks automatically."
ISRO has a plan A and plan B, which comprise of two parallel circuits to start-up the larger rocket motor. If both the plans failed, there is a separate plan to use tiny thrusters to slow down the satellite and still reach the Mars orbit.
On an overall, the Mangalyaan is laced with 8 smaller rockets and one big rocket. The bigger rocket is in a slumber.
OneIndia News